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Wednesday Word: Mindset

The first Wednesday of each month, the Deb from Deb Runs will be providing a word about which to blog. Kind of like a nice little blog prompt. Posts can be fitness or health related, but don’t have to be, so really anyone can play along. Just be sure to link up with InLinkz on Deb’s main post, and share the love by reading and commenting on other’s participant’s posts.

Today’s word is Mindset.

So according to the dictionary, this is what “mindset” means:

There are so many ways to approach this word in relation to running because “it’s all mental,” right?

In other words, once we believe we are “runners,” we will be (feel like) “runners.”

This happened to me after I ran the Freihofer’s Run for Women 5k for the first time.

Then my “mindset” changed again after I finished my first Half Marathon. Now I believed that I was a “long distance runner” not just a runner who can run 5ks.

You don’t have to run your fastest race to be happy crossing the finish line.

I had one of my slowest 5k times at this race but I finished my first race after not running for 5 months (post ankle surgery) with tears streaming down my face.

Sometimes these negative thoughts crawl into my mind:

I can’t run that fast.

I can’t run that far.

I will get injured if I…

I am too old to …

I suck at hills.

I can’t run in warm (humid, windy, cold…) weather.

I mentally psyched myself out of this race before I ever started – tired legs, painful feet, hilly, loops, etc.

As Henry Ford says: “If you think you think can or you think you CAN’T, you’re both right.”

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My Favorite Quotes

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” ~ John Bingham

“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” ~ Lance Armstrong

"In running, it doesn't matter if you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." ~ Fred LeBow

“There is no better feeling in the world than to take your mind and body to a place you thought it couldn’t go; a place you thought it didn’t belong. You should all try it sometime.” ~ Shauna Reid

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up.” ~ Dean Karnazes

"I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." ~ Steve Prefontaine

"From the moment you cross the start line, you know that crossing the finish line will be one of the best moments of your life." ~ Author Unknown

"You have a choice, you can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face." ~ Gatorade 3

"There is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving." ~ Amby Burfoot

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." ~ John Bingham

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